What Happened When Kurt's Mom Got Sick
by haleygirl
Summary: Mike and Kurt have been neighbors for a long time. Mike doesn't know what to do when he finds out that Kurt's mom is real sick. FYI- This is in my What Happened When universe and I'm not entirely sure where it's going, but for right now don't think it'll have a corporal punishment piece that the others do.
1. Chapter 1

Mike found out before the other kids at school. Mama had picked him up from school and said that Kurt's dad said Kurt could come over. His mom must have had some appointment, or something. He didn't think anything of it.

The book club had been at Kurt's house the night before, and Mike's mom couldn't find a sitter so she'd brought him with her. Their moms shooed them down into Kurt's room to play. They hadn't played much together in a long while, maybe not since the Neighborhood Block Party several months prior. At school Mike always seemed to be around really smart kids or really athletic kids, and Kurt didn't feel comfortable with a lot of them, so he kept a distance at school. Mike knew some kids made fun of Kurt, but he tried to stay out of it. _He's my neighbor, it's not cool to make fun of your_ _neighbor_ _._ And besides, he'd noticed that Kurt never made fun of his lunches or the way Chinese people talk like kids on his bus did.

"This is your room?!" Mike asked. He was very impressed that Kurt had the whole basement to himself.

Kurt was a little relieved that Mike seemed to approve. He didn't have a lot of kids over and when he did they usually just played outside. "I've been working on redecorating."

"You got a lot of art supplies!" Mike noted, pointing to the craft table his parents had set up that was currently covered in chalk and tissue paper.

Kurt nodded. "My mom always looks for stuff people don't want anymore at garage sales. Someone was going to give a whole box of that tissue paper away!"

Mike looked at the photos on Kurt's bookshelf. He stopped at one that had been taken after a little recital from when he was in ballet class a couple years ago.

"What's that?"

Kurt looked a little embarrassed. "Oh. Um. When I was little my mom let me take a dance class," he muttered.

"Really?" Mike asked. "I wish my parents would let me do that."

Kurt lit up, surprised. "Really?"

Mike nodded, shy.

"It's called ballet. It's French dancing." Kurt told him authoritatively. "We had a recital. Some people think dancing is just for girls but I got the best part in the show because I was the only boy in the class," he bragged.

Mike nodded. "I danced in a performance at Chinese School last year. It was really neat. But my mom and dad say I have to keep up my grades there more if I want to do more activities."

"What's Chinese School?"

Mike made a face. "On Saturdays. It's like regular school 'cept I learn Chinese there. And sometimes stuff about geography."

"Oh." Kurt thought it must be awful to have to go to school on Saturdays. That's when all the best cartoons were on. "Is it hard to learn Chinese?"

"Sometimes. "

"I learned some French words in ballet so I told my mom I want to learn French when I get bigger. She says they teach it at high school."

Mike nodded. "It's cool to learn a different language. It's sort of like a secret code other kids don't know. 'Cept they have lots of homework at Chinese school. But I have lots of friends there and my Dad says I'm getting better."

Kurt thought Mike was probably the smartest kid he knew. He had a really hard time learning his times tables and was pretty intimidated when he realized Mike knew them all one day when the teacher had paired them up to practice with flash cards. But Mike was nice about it and didn't make fun of him for not knowing them all yet. That was good because it was starting to seem like most kids were always finding something new to make fun of him for.

"Hey can you teach me to do ballet?" Mike asked shyly.

"Well it's been awhile, but I was very good at it so I think so," Kurt boasted. He actually hadn't been in a class in two years. Elizabeth had put him in ballet and Burt didn't have a big problem with it until he saw that he was the only boy in the class when they had that recital. Kurt was already so… different… from the kind of kid he'd been as a boy and he worried that it wasn't good for a kid to just hang out with girls all the time. They compromised and put him in some art classes after that, which he loved, but it turned out that drawing was more of an independent activity and it didn't really result in Kurt gaining a bunch of new friends. Burt and Elizabeth were hoping that Kurt would come out of his shell as he got older.

"Can you stand up on your toes? That's called relevé. No, like this." Kurt enjoyed being the teacher. "Can you say relevé?"

"Relevé?" Mike said, trying to walk around on his toes.  
"And plié means bending your knees. So in ballet you're always relevé-ing and plié-ing and when you're good at that then you can do cool jumps like this. " Kurt demonstrated with a spin.

Mike and Kurt had so much fun dancing around Kurt's bedroom that the usual boring book club time flew by. Their mothers came back downstairs an hour later to the sound of a lot of giggling.

"What are you boys up to?" Elizabeth asked, coming down the stairs.

"Kurt's teaching me French!" Mike announced.

"Oh really, Michael?" Mrs. Chang laughed. "I thought you were working on your Chinese?"

"I can learn both, Mama."

"You can teach me Chinese too, if you want." Kurt offered.

"Oh you'd like it, cuz you're good at art. You have to learn to make lots of characters."

Kurt beamed to hear that Mike thought he was good at art.

"Well if you two are opening a little language school I guess we'll have to make some more time for you get together." said Elizabeth, pleased. Mike and Kurt happily agreed.

So the next day Mike was really excited to find out that his mom had already set up a play date. He didn't notice how shaken Mama seemed. Usually going to McDonald's was a treat handed out at most a couple times a year, and he thought he'd hit the jackpot when she announced they were going to go there to play and have dinner. He wasn't paying attention while she kept checking her phone. He was having too much fun playing with Kurt and teaching him all the color words he knew in Chinese while they chased each other up the playscape.

Later they got back to his house and played outside together. Mr. Hummel picked up Kurt shortly after. Mike would always remember that it seemed like something was off about Kurt's dad that night. Kurt was babbling on about all the new words he knew in Chinese now, and asking if they could go on vacation to China someday, and his father was just sort of nodding and looking away, distant. He remembered his mother hugged Mr. Hummel and that seemed strange to him. His own dad had put his hand on his shoulder and told Mr. Hummel to let them know if they needed anything, and that Kurt was welcome to come over to play anytime. Mama made a big deal about how well behaved Kurt had been, and Kurt asked his dad if that meant he could have ice cream for dessert. Kurt's dad nodded and Kurt squealed in joy.

"Bye, Mike, see you in school tomorrow!" Kurt had said.

"Hey, say thank you to Mike's mom and dad," his dad had reminded.

"Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Chang!" Kurt yelled back as he ran in the direction of his house.

After the Hummels left, Mama started crying and Dad put his arms around her. Mike didn't know why she was unhappy. His father would try to explain that night. It was really important to be extra nice to Kurt now, he said. Kurt's mom was really sick and in the hospital. She was kind of asleep and they didn't know if she was going to wake up. Mike didn't really understand, but he kept thinking about how happy Kurt had been running off to get that ice cream. Mike didn't know it then, but it would be a long time before he saw his neighbor friend that happy again.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Mike went to school but Kurt wasn't there. Mike asked his mother how Kurt's mom was doing when she came to pick him up.

"She's still in the hospital, honey. I want to drop off some flowers there, but you'll have to be very quiet in the hospital. You have to behave there, you understand?"

Mike nodded and his mom took him to the store. She let him pick out flowers. He wrote his name in cursive on the little card his mom bought because he thought cursive looked more serious.

"Do you think Kurt's mom's gonna wake up soon?" he asked as his mom drove to the hospital.

His mom pursed her lips. "We don't… really know Michael. But… I think maybe you shouldn't ask a lot of questions when we go there, alright? It might upset Kurt's dad."

"Kurt's dad is at the hopital?"

"Yes, honey. He had to close up the tire shop today."

"Who's babysitting Kurt then?"

"What do you mean?"

"He wasn't in school today. Who's with Kurt while he's sick?"

"Honey, I don't- I don't think Kurt is sick."

"He wasn't in school all day today though."

"Michael, he… I think Kurt's dad just decided he didn't need to go to school today. I think he's with his daddy at the hospital. He'll probably be glad to see another little boy there."

Mike didn't understand. His mom and dad would never just let him skip school. They said the teenager down the street got caught doing that once and that it was really naughty. Mike couldn't even remember Kurt ever being too naughty, really. He decided he probably shouldn't tell the teacher because the teacher would put it on Kurt's permanent record, and it wouldn't be very nice to tattle on a neighbor.

Mike's mom let him carry the flowers. He'd never been inside a hospital before and didn't really know what to expect. The inside of the hospital was really white and bright. There were a lot of people walking around. Mike wondered if they were all sick. Someday he was going to be a doctor, probably. His dad said so. He really wondered how come doctors weren't sick all the time since they're always around germs all day. But his mom had said not to ask lots of questions so he didn't ask.

They walked down a long hallway. Mike saw Kurt's daddy first. He was sitting in a chair, drinking something from a Styrofoam cup and surrounded by other grown ups he didn't know. When they got closer, Mike thought he looked really tired. Like, really tired.

"Hey… I know someone who'll be happy to see you…" Kurt's dad said. He talked kind of slow, but he had a little smile on his face as he ruffled Mike's hair.

His mom hugged Kurt's dad again. He didn't think he'd ever seen his mom hug someone who wasn't a relative before.

"How is she?" his mom asked tentatively.

"Uh… same." Kurt's dad said, avoiding eye contact. He turned to the other grown ups assembled around him. "Uh, this is my neighbor Julia Chang, and her son, Mike. Uh, this is my sister-in-law Anne, and my brother Josh and his wife Helen…"

Mike watched as the grown ups exchanged pleasantries. He wondered where Kurt's mom was.

"You, uh… you can see if her if you want."

"Oh. Well I'd love to, but I don't want to bother…"

"It's no bother…" Mr. Hummel said rather gruffly, rubbing his eye as he got up. Mike thought that Mr. Hummel looked awfully sleepy.

"Michael, can you stay here for me? The nurses won't want a child—"

"Oh. I guess… Let me get Kurt and he can come out and visit with you, Mike."

Mike watched as Mr. Hummel walked over to a room with a door just a little ways away and gently opened the door. He saw a bed. There was a lady on one side of it typing into a computer. Kurt was lying on it, watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. His dad rubbed his back and talked to him quietly. Kurt sat up and looked out towards Mike, and that's when. Mike saw that he'd been snuggling against his mom. Kurt's mom was lying down asleep, with some kind of plastic thing coming out of her nose.

Kurt slipped down off the bed and walked over to Mike while Mike's mom went in the room.

"Hi," Kurt said.

"Hi," Mike said. He didn't know what else to say. He wanted to know why Kurt's mom had that tube thing in her nose but he remembered what Mama had said about not asking lots of questions. He pushed the flowers at Kurt. "My mom got your mom flowers," he said. "But I helped picked them," he added.

Kurt looked at them. "You have good taste," he said quietly.

Mike wasn't entirely sure he knew what that meant, but it sounded like a compliment. "I thought the white ones looked like the ones in your front yard so I thought your mom probably likes those kind best."

Kurt nodded, feeling the petals.

"…I'm sorry your mom's sick... I looked for you at school and thought maybe you got sick too."

Kurt shook his head. "My dad says it's not catching. You can't get the sick my mom is."

"Oh. Well that's good… I guess."

"But she's not gonna get better. At least my dad told me probably not." Kurt's voice had a flat, far-off quality to it, like he was reciting something rather than talking.

Mike wondered if that meant Kurt's mom was going to just keep sleeping like that. Would Kurt and his dad have to move into the hospital too?

"My dad says this hospital has good doctors," Mike offered. "I got born at the hospital in Cincinnati but my dad says this one is better. When I had to get stitches he was glad we went here."

Kurt looked at Mike, unsure. "My dad says the doctors here are real smart," he said, as if he was convincing himself. "And they have room service like at a hotel on vacation here. Me and my dad haven't been very hungry though. My dad said… I maybe won't go to school this week. If I don't want to…" Kurt shrugged, distant. Then he looked back at Mike. "He's gonna tell the teacher it's okay," he assured him.

Mike nodded. "… you missed gym. We played dodgeball. But I got out real early this time." Mike looked down, embarrassed because usually he did a lot better at dodgeball.

Kurt smiled a half-smile. He didn't like gym very much. He was never very good at it. "There's no kids here so it's kinda boring here. I just been watchin TV… There's snack machines though. You'd like them." Kurt suddenly turned tail and ran over to his father. "Can I show Mike all the snack machines?" he asked.

Mr. Hummel smiled tiredly at Kurt, touching his face. "Uh, well sure…" He looked over at his brother and gestured, "Josh, can you-?"

"Hey boys, I'll take you."

"This is my Uncle Josh." Kurt said, grabbing Mike's hand and dragging him away.

Kurt was right. The hospital really did have fancy snack machines. There was a whole row of them and one even had sandwiches and yogurt in it. Mike thought all snack machines were supposed to just have junk food.

"Boys, how about you pick out an ice cream bar? I could really go for some ice cream about now!" Mr. Uncle Josh said. He seemed nice, but kind of over-excited and Mike thought he must not spend much time with kids because he was talking to him like he was a lot littler than he was.

Kurt's uncle bought the boys ice cream bars and let them push all the buttons and watch the vacuum tube grab them out of a big freezer. Mike ate his, hoping his mom wouldn't be mad and say it was ruining his dinner. But a grown up had bought it for him and he didn't want to be rude, and besides it would melt if he didn't eat it right away.

"You boys in the same class?" Kurt's Uncle Josh asked.

"Uh huh," Mike answered, chewing his ice cream bar. "Kurt lives right next door to me."

"Oh well that's great. It's so nice of your mom to come visit."

"They're in book club together." Mike explained.

"And my dad fixes his dad's car sometimes." Kurt added.

"He does?" Mike asked. He'd never actually been to Kurt's dad's shop before.

"Uh huh. My dad gives your parents a good deal because your family's nice, he told me."

Mike thought that was cool. "Are you gonna be a mechanic like him when you grow up?" Mike wondered aloud.

Kurt wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "Cars are boring."

Kurt's uncle laughed out loud. "I never met a little boy who didn't like cars," he commented.

Kurt shrugged.

Mike wondered if Kurt's dad would be mad he didn't want to be a mechanic. "What you gonna do then? When you're a grown up?"

Kurt thought about it. "I don't know yet. But not be a mechanic. Something more fun than that. I want to learn how to sew clothes."

"Clothes?" Mr. Uncle Josh asked.

Kurt nodded. "My dad promised when I'm a little older he'll buy me a sewing machine and mom's going to show me how to use it. He just doesn't want me to get one yet 'cause he thinks I might break it." Kurt rolled his eyes.

There was a long pause.

"You probably make lots of money if you can do that. Cuz everybody wears clothes so much." Mike said.

Kurt's Uncle smiled at him.

"Probably." Kurt agreed.

"I'm gonna be a doctor." Mike offered. "Or maybe a lawyer like my dad."

"Is it fun to be a lawyer?"

"…I don't… really know what they do." Mike admitted. "Except they go to court a lot."

Kurt shook his head. "I think judges are better than lawyers. You could be a judge and put bad guys in jail."

Mike nodded, agreeing that it did sound like a cooler job.

"But kids don't gotta decide until they're a grown up," Kurt told Mike. "My mom and dad said."

"Yes," Kurt's uncle said, collecting the ice cream wrappers and throwing them in the trash. "You two are real young and have lots of time before you have to think about any grown up things." Mike noticed for the first time that Kurt's Uncle Josh seemed real sad too.

When they returned to the wing of the hospital where Kurt's mom was, Mike saw his mom talking to Kurt's dad outside the hospital room. He was giving her tissues. She saw him and took a breath, putting on a big smile.

"There's my boy!" she said, reaching for Mike and giving him a hug that felt a little tighter than normal.

"We had ice cream, Mama—"

"Yes, I see that…" she said, using a tissue to wipe some chocolate from his mouth. "Well… we really should be getting home to your father. We'll be thinking of you all," she added with a shaky voice.

Mike noticed that Kurt didn't really say goodbye to him, he just sort of half-waved and then headed back into his mom's room, climbing back onto her bed and turning on the TV. Left with the adults making extended goodbyes, Mike now felt antsy and uncomfortable. Kurt was real nice, but he hoped his mom wouldn't want to visit here a lot.


	3. Chapter 3

The next night, Mike was playing on his train table in the living room when the phone rang. He didn't pay much attention at the time, but he remember later his father talking quietly and then bringing his mother over to talk to whoever it was as well. And then his father came over to sit on the couch.

"Michael. Can you… come here for a minute?"

Mike put down the train in his hand and walked over to his father. His father put a hand on his shoulder, then looked back towards the kitchen, where his mother was standing.

"Michael. I have to tell you something… very sad. Your friend Kurt's mother… she died this afternoon."

Mike's eyes squinted in confusion.

"Wh-what do you mean?"  
"…You know she was very sick, Michael," his mother added, shakily coming to sit next to her husband on the sofa.

"B-but she was in the hospital. Didn't the doctors give her medicine? You said that was the good hospital." Mike felt guilty for telling Kurt there were good doctors there when they let his mom die.

"It—it is a good hospital son. This just… happens sometimes."

Mike looked at his mother, whose eyes were red now and then looked away. Mike knew about death. His turtle had died last summer. But somehow he'd never thought someone he knew would die. At least not until they were super old.

"Who's going to take care of Kurt though?" Mike asked.

"Oh honey, his father's going to take care of him," his mother assured.

"But what about when he's at work? His father has to sell tires."

"I'm sure he'll work something out, Michael. And we'll tell him Kurt can come over here sometimes if he needs a babysitter. They're going to need good neighbors to help out a little more now."

Mike remembered how he'd left the hospital hoping he didn't have to come back much. He felt bad for that. He hadn't meant to want Mrs. Hummel to die. This was the most awful thing he'd ever heard of. Awfuller than when he'd heard about that kid in second grade who got in a car accident and now can't go to gym class because he's in a wheelchair. He wondered what he'd do if his own Mama died. His eyes filled up with tears and he hurriedly brushed at his face with his sleeve, trying to stop them.

"It's okay, son," he heard his father say, patting at his back.

"Yes honey, it's very sad. It's okay to be sad," his mother soothed, kissing his forehead.

"It's not fair," Mike sputtered, sniffling.

"No… it's not. You're a good friend for Kurt. He's lucky to have you for a neighbor."

Mike didn't feel like a good friend right then. He was feeling glad it was Kurt's mom and not his own. He was feeling like he didn't know what he'd say next time he saw Kurt and how it would be weird. He was feeling oddly sorry for himself, like he'd lost some precious thing, some sort of special happiness he didn't know he'd had and wishing he could get it back.


End file.
